Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
China arrests hundreds of computer hackers
China has arrested 460 computer hackers this year and closed a number of hacker-training websites, but warned that the chances of further cyber-attacks remain "very grim".
The announcement on the arrests of hackers only discussed the domestic Chinese situation and not attacks on international targets.
It said the authorities had arrested 460 hackers, solved 180 cases of computer crimes, and shut down 14 websites providing hacking software or training. It did not name any specific cases.
Earlier this year, however, China said it had shut down a website selling "tools" for hackers, which they said was generating around £650,000 a year in revenues from 12,000 subscribers.
The statement said Chinese hackers were seeking "private gain" from their actions, such as draining bank accounts. It said reports of hacking incidents to the authorities had risen by 80 per cent a year "in recent years".
China has a huge network of hackers, known in Chinese as "heike" or "black guests", and experts believe a significant proportion of them are trained by the government-affiliated bodies.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Blood Debts in China
China marked World AIDS Day yesterday by opening up a bit more about its troubled history with the HIV virus. State media reported that the Health Ministry revised upward—without explanation—the number of Chinese who have died from the disease since the 1980s to 68,315, from 49,845 a year ago.
Chen Bingzhong
.However, the real figure is probably much higher. Beijing spent much of the last two decades trying to cover up the extent of the disease's spread, and ignoring its causes. In particular, in Henan province rural residents sold their blood plasma to government and private collection stations that used unsanitary methods and infected perhaps 100,000 people with the HIV virus. About 10,000 of them have died of the disease. Provincial officials silenced activists who initially sounded the alarm, meaning that most of the infected were exposed unnecessarily.
Now Chen Bingzhong, a former high-ranking health official, has stepped forward to demand accountability for this crime. And he is pointing the finger at two of the nine most powerful men in the land, Politburo Standing Committee Members Li Changchun and Li Keqiang. The former is currently head of the Communist Party's propaganda apparatus, and the latter is expected to replace Wen Jiabao as the nation's premier in 2012. Both held the post of Henan party secretary in the 1990s and early 2000s while the blood contamination was happening.
Mr. Chen's public accusation would normally cost him his freedom, but since the 78-year-old official is suffering from liver cancer he may be immune to the Party's intimidation. In any case, his act of conscience deserves applause. Much like Jiang Yanyong, the military doctor who blew the whistle on the SARS cover-up in 2003 and then called for the reappraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Mr. Chen simply demands that leaders be held accountable for their actions: "They have lied to their superiors and hidden the truth from the common people. They are guilty of serious dereliction of duty."
Chen Bingzhong
.However, the real figure is probably much higher. Beijing spent much of the last two decades trying to cover up the extent of the disease's spread, and ignoring its causes. In particular, in Henan province rural residents sold their blood plasma to government and private collection stations that used unsanitary methods and infected perhaps 100,000 people with the HIV virus. About 10,000 of them have died of the disease. Provincial officials silenced activists who initially sounded the alarm, meaning that most of the infected were exposed unnecessarily.
Now Chen Bingzhong, a former high-ranking health official, has stepped forward to demand accountability for this crime. And he is pointing the finger at two of the nine most powerful men in the land, Politburo Standing Committee Members Li Changchun and Li Keqiang. The former is currently head of the Communist Party's propaganda apparatus, and the latter is expected to replace Wen Jiabao as the nation's premier in 2012. Both held the post of Henan party secretary in the 1990s and early 2000s while the blood contamination was happening.
Mr. Chen's public accusation would normally cost him his freedom, but since the 78-year-old official is suffering from liver cancer he may be immune to the Party's intimidation. In any case, his act of conscience deserves applause. Much like Jiang Yanyong, the military doctor who blew the whistle on the SARS cover-up in 2003 and then called for the reappraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, Mr. Chen simply demands that leaders be held accountable for their actions: "They have lied to their superiors and hidden the truth from the common people. They are guilty of serious dereliction of duty."
Party Talks Rejected
The Republic of Korea (ROK) and U.S. reject six party talks.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-12/01/content_11639075.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-12/01/content_11639075.htm
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